[1/25/98]
Charlie's Tavern(#683RJ)
The environment of this questionable establishment seems close and hot around
you despite its fair size. The walls are done up in unremarkable fake-wood
paneling, an ugly dark-brown that chips in many places to show the lighter
plywood underneath. The floor is the sort of uneven, grey concrete that
suggests this building's earlier life as a garage of some sort; it dips and
rises, gathering small pools of beer and other spirits in various locations.
Wooden tables are scattered about, some in better repair than others but
most featuring elaborate networks of dents and scratches; a bar runs the
full west side of the room, its uniform brown length accented by a single
greasy metal footrest. Dark posters, long since faded into
incomprehensibility, hang off the walls at odd angles. What light there is
here reaches through in dusty beams from the two windows facing the street,
and from the flickering fluorescent rig swinging gently over the single
mottled pool table at the back. Perched up over one end of the bar is a
battered, black-and-white television.
A single battered black door leads back south to the street.
Currently the moon is in the waning No Moon phase (14% full).
Salem sits at a table to the back of the bar, nursing a mug of beer by
himself. Truly by himself, since the tables nearest to him are conspicuously
empty.
Sally MacKay leads the threesome through the door, her expression already
brightening as she does a quick scan of the place, her feet carrying her
towards the bar as she looks. Her gaze passes over the source of the cleared
tables; she keeps moving.
Casper follows behind the other two, looking around the bar.
Salem glances up, his own eyes passing over the new arrivals. His scowl
deepens a bit, but he takes another swallow of the cheap beer and looks away.
Seirian trails after Sally, shrugging out of her jacket and glancing her
around. Her eyes pass over Salem, pausing long enough to recognize who it is
before moving on. She clearly is headed for the bar as well.
"Soda, Boo?" Sally asks as she waves the bartender over to them, slipping off
her jacket as she waits. With a toss of her hair, she sends her golden hair
back over her shoulder, not turning around towards the tables behind them.
Casper nods quickly to Sally, "Yes please... root beer."
Seirian leans against the bar, waiting to put in an order.
Salem watches the trio unobtrusively, out of the corner of his eye and in
brief glances. Outwardly, he seems focused on nothing in particular.
Sally MacKay's hand wiggles into the front pocket of her jeans and she pulls
out a bill, a twenty. Placing it on the bar, she says, "First round's on
me." Once the bartender's within hearing range, she orders, "Root beer and,"
she glances questioningly at the Fianna, "two beers?"
Seirian nods at the question, "Aye."
Sally MacKay gives her jacket a little shake as if to remove any last bit of
snow from it. "Table or bar?" she asks as they wait for their drinks.
Casper shrugs, "Table?"
Seirian tosses her braid over her shoulder, "Up t'ye, Sal, I've nae
preference."
Sally MacKay shrugs and nods at the same time. "Table's cool." She takes her
change, letting them pick one.
Seirian glances to Casper, "You pick, Boo."
Casper wanders over to a table near the entrance. "Here?"
Salem fishes inside his coat for his cigarettes, and places the pack on the
table, along with the cheap little lighter. He arranges these two objects
near the middle of the table and then leaves them there to take another
drink of beer.
Seirian nods and follows, "Looks good t'me."
Salem pages all: Just so everyone knows where everyone is. You guys are
sitting near the front. My table is near the back, and there are empty
tables near mine. :)
Two beers on one hand, the soda in the other, and her jacket over her arm,
Sally joins the two Garou. She serves them with a grin, then tosses her coat
onto a free chair and sits.
Casper sits down lightly, and leans his chair back against the wall. He takes
his pop and nods to Sally in thanks.
Seirian turns her chair around, leaning against the back and the table and
taking her beer with a grin. Raising it, she toasts, "T'the fruits of a
'quiet' evening."
"Quiet-schmiet, " Sally half-smiles, half-smirks, raising her glass in return.
"It's early still."
Jeremy slips into the bar, his expression dark and taught. His eyes are
faintly narrowed, and there are the hints of circles under them as he scans
the room.
[Jeremy]
This man isn't very tall, just topping off at about average height for a male.
His build is rather athletic, looking muscular, strong and solid. His
features are rough hewn, attractive in a rugged way, but not incredibly so.
His eyes are a deep brown color, nothing notable though. He seems to squint
as he watches his surroundings, both of which he does often. His hair is
black, but cropped very close to his head, just long enough to be able to
part. While probably only in his mid twenties, he carries himself in a way
that makes him look a bit older before his time. He wears a pair of jeans,
and a collarless button down shirt, over which is thrown a rather bland
looking motorcycle jacket.
Casper leans forward and raises his glass. He says to Seirian lowly, grinning,
"That kind of toast is just asking for trouble." he then notices Jeremy and
quiets.
Salem uses the side of one hand to subtly alter the position of the cigarette
pack and cigarette lighter. He pushes the half-empty beer mug to one side
and seems absorbed in contemplation of these three objects.
Seirian wriggles her eyebrows and takes a healthy sip, following Casper's
glance towards the door and Jeremy.
Sally MacKay's looking towards Casper, ready to respond, then sees his change
of expression. She glances over her shoulder, checking out what he's looking
at. "Hey," her voice, bright and warm, calls out a greeting. She's up and
out of her chair in a flash, headed the kinsman's way.
Jeremy lips quirk into a faint, but appreciative smile as Sally heads his way.
His slips his arms about her, and leans over to brush his lips across the
blonde's rather fervently, with an open affection before drawing away
slightly. "Hey you."
Salem glances up toward the entrance, dark gaze fixing on the couple. His lips
press together, expression sharpening. Then he picks up the cigarette pack
and shakes one out, tapping it lightly against the table-top.
Seirian smiles a bit and concentrates on her beer with enthusiasm.
Sally MacKay's arms go around Jeremy in return, low, at his hips. She returns
the kiss then touches her forehead against his a moment. "Hey you," she says
back to him, her voice quieter now, just between them. "How's it going?"
Jeremy lets out a short, small breath that might be a sigh before he says
quietly,"Not well. Work is eating me alive. It's good to see you, though."
She lets out a soft, "Hell," not looking much likely to be letting go of him
anytime too soon. Sally looks up into his face, searching his eyes. "Want a
beer, or are you working now?"
Seirian works her way through her beer and looks to Casper. "How've ye been,
eh? Seems I've been a tad lax in inquirin' as t'the well-bein' o'my friends."
Salem sets the cigarette between his lips and lets it dangle there, unlit, as
he pushes the cigarette pack around on the table. His expression is closed,
distant, withdrawn.
Casper smiles to Seirian, "I've been alright, busy lately... the time of month
I guess. Things are slowing down now."
Seirian nods. "Tha's good t'hear. Slow means quiet, quiet means
fewer...problems."
Casper grins, "That's the way I look at it. How have you been? Busy as well?"
Seirian nods and smiles, "Keepin' m'self busy's more like it. Gives me less
chance t'think about...other things." Whether she follows that with a smile
is hard to tell as she sips at her beer.
Casper looks curious and grins a little, "Other things eh?"
Salem flicks the lighter on, lifting it to regard the small flame at eye
level. Then he sits up, lowering the cheap little Bic and lighting the
cigarette in his mouth.
Seirian nods and sets the glass down. "Aye, other things. Stuff from home,
stuff 'round 'ere, stuff in gen'ral." She does smile this time, however.
Casper ohs and nods, remembering. He smiles sadly, "Sometimes it's good to be
busy..."
Jeremy shakes his head. "Not working, thank god. A beer'd be great."
Seirian nods and reaches out to gently punch Casper's shoulder. "I'm gettin'
better, hon'stly. Havin' friends 'round helped."
Salem sets the lighter back on the table and leans back in his chair, inhaling
deep lungfuls of the nicotine-laden smoke.
Freeing only one hand from the cop, Sally leaves the other around his waist
and leads him to their table. Tossing her coat onto the back of her own
chair, freeing it up for him, she gives Jeremy a quick kiss. "Be right
back," she says, then bops towards the bar.
Seirian smiles and gives Jeremy a friendly wave. "Good evenin' t'ye."
Jeremy moves over towards the table, giving those at it a shallow and subdued
nod of greeting. He settles down in the chair next to Sally, and
offers,"Evening."
Casper nods to Jeremy, smiling politely.
The blonde orders the beer, then turns around and leans back against the bar
as she waits. Her eyes are on the front of the room, on Jeremy and those at
the table.
Seirian eyes her half-drained glass and smirks, "Seems I'll be needin' a
refill soon."
Salem takes the lit cigarette from his mouth after a few lungfuls and rests it
across the pack. He takes another sip of beer and seems to contemplate the
rising curl of gray smoke.
Jeremy says "Hmmm? Been a long night, eh?"
Sally MacKay pays for the beer once it arrives, then crosses back to the
table. Her expression is happy, settled, a restlessness within it finally
calmed. She folds one leg under her as she sits, then places the beer before
Jeremy. "And I expect a tip," she says, leaning over to bump him playfully.
Seirian chuckles and leans against the chair back in front of her. "Aye, an' a
long week, month, etc."
Jeremy's lips quirk in a lopsided smile, and he comments to Seirian,"Indeed.
Know what that is like. Excuse me, a moment." He then proceeds to wrap his
fingers in the front of Sally's shirt and pull her lips to his own in a
fiery kiss.
Casper leans back and smiles distractedly.
Salem leans forward, resting his elbows on the table and twining his fingers
together, forefingers steepled.
Sally laughs as she's pulled closer, then the sound is stilled as their lips
meet. One of her hands finds its way back around him, between him and the
chair back as they kiss. She smiles as they part, her eyes on his as she
comments, "Nice tip, but I don't know if my landlo-" she snickers, "Fuck,
no, he just might like it."
Jeremy quirks an eyebrow at Sally, and says dryly,"I think I'll just leave
that the hell alone."
Seirian grins and drains her glass, reaching with one hand to undo her braid
and fluff her hair out into a red cloud around her shoulders.
The blonde laughs again, then scoots her chair closer to Jeremy's. Sally
raises her own glass for a quick drink before saying, "That's probably good."
Salem's eyes remain on the thin line of smoke wafting up from the end of the
lit cigarette as it sits across the pack. If he's aware of the goings-on at
the other end of the tavern, he doesn't show it.
Seirian sets down the empty glass and takes a moment to untangle her hair with
her fingers, smiling pleasantly.
Jeremy says "So, what have people been up to?"
Seirian, caught with one hand in her hair, chuckles lightly. "Keepin' busy."
"Classes started again," Sally says with a slight frown. The expression
vanishes as quickly as it arrived, though. "But everything else's cool." She
checks out his expression again, "What's been happening at work?"
Jeremy chews on his lower lip a moment, and then murmurs,"Special project the
Chief has me on."
Sally MacKay nods understandingly.
Jeremy says "What classes are you taking this semester?"
Sally MacKay waves her free hand dismissively. "Psych stuff, for my major.
Nothing interesting. Oh, you should stop by the Pool Hall when you have
time, things are really shaping up there," she speaks on her job with a lot
more interest than her classes.
Jeremy raises both eyebrows slightly. "Howso?"
"Oh, cleaning things up and," Sally's smile grows playful, "maybe we'll be
getting rid of those bullet holes sometime, though they are kinda cool."
Casper snaps out of his reverie, "Bullet holes?"
Jeremy echoes Casper's question. "Bullet holes?"
Sally MacKay nods, sitting up further. "Yep! Happened before I started there,
though. There was some big shoot out, or something like that." The blonde
looks rather disappointed to have missed it.
Jeremy purses his lips. "Something I must have missed on previous trips there,
I suppose."
Salem sits up, lifting his beer mug and draining it with a single gulp. His
chair scrapes against the floor as he rises, picking up the lit cigarette
and setting it between his lips as he takes his empty beer toward the bar
for a refill.
"Next time you come down I'll..." Sally's words trail off as she catches the
movement towards the bar. She turns her head to look, then finishes almost
distractedly, "...I'll show you." She watches the dark Garou for as long as
his back is turned.
Jeremy nods slowly, and follows her gaze before he throws a questioning look
the blonde's way.
Salem leans against the bar, cigarette dangling between his lips as he sets
his empty mug down on the bar and gestures sharply toward the rather
hesitant-looking bartender.
Casper takes a quick look to Salem and then says, looking down, "Well I think
I'll be on my way. You two take care. Thanks for the drink Sally."
Sally MacKay's voice is quiet, not carrying much past the cop, let alone their
table. "Just someone I know." Then she does have to take her eyes off Salem
as she leans in to speak even quieter to Jeremy, but is distracted before
she can by Casper. "Okay, night. Glad you could hang out."
Casper smiles and heads out.
Casper pulls open the door and heads outside.
Casper has left.
[Note: Seirian has left by this time as well.]
Salem smokes his cigarette, watching the bartender with a dark, unfriendly eye
until the hefty man finally comes over and refills the mug with beer.
Sally MacKay lifts her mug and takes a slow drink, still watching the Garou,
not removing her arm from Jeremy as she does.
Jeremy inclines his head a little, and then shakes it some as he nurses his
beer.
Salem takes his beer and turns away from the bar. As he moves back to his
table, his eyes catch Sally's again, locking on and holding for a few long
seconds, his expression tightly controlled, the corners of his mouth turned
down. He can't help but appear menacing. But after those few seconds, he
simply turns his back on her and continues the rest of the way toward his
table at the back.
Jeremy studies Salem, expertly. As a hunter mighty study a lethal quarry,
before his expression twitchs faintly.
Salem's chair scrapes against the floor again, the sound loud in the sudden
quiet. Dropping back into his seat, he takes the cigarette from his lips and
taps the ash into a small tray.
Sally appears little cowed by Salem's dark look. She holds his eyes when his
gaze comes into range, her own expression almost perfectly neutral,
carefully hidden. Only her eyes might give away some subtle clue,
perhaps that's just a flicker of saddness, disappointment in them. Or
perhaps not. Once he's moved on past, Sally raises her mug for a long
drink.
Jeremy glances over Sally again, saying more bluntly,"So what's the story,
morning glory?" His voice is quiet, though.
Even once she's done drinking, Sally doesn't lower the mug. Speaking to him
quietly from behind the almost empty glass, she tells Jeremy, "He's one of
them." There's no emphasis on 'them' this time, though, unlike every other
passing of such information from her to him. She drains her beer.
Jeremy says "Garou?"
Salem leans back in his seat, letting his tall body list a bit to one side in
an facade of casual relaxation, rather like a black leopard lounging on a
tree limb. He doesn't look in Sally's direction, his gaze wandering
elsewhere as he smokes; the beer remains untouched for now.
Sally MacKay nods her wordless answer, then spins up and out of her chair and
is away from the table in a few quick strides, mug in hand. She arrives at
the bar and gets much faster service than the Ronin had.
The cop's cellphone rings, and he blinks once before flipping it open to
answer. He speaks into it, clipped words that bring a darker expression
before he says,"I have to go."
Sally MacKay looks back from the bar as his phone goes off, then returns to
the table. Beerless, she sits back down next to him, only to give him a
quick hug. "Gotta go?"
Jeremy nods. "Yeah. I'll drop by on ya sometime tommorow, 'kay? Take care,
hon." He leans over to proffer another kiss before heading out of the Tavern.
Sally MacKay returns it and watches the cop leave with a smile before heading
back to the bar to wait in her beer.
Salem's eyes flick over toward Sally's departing 'friend', regarding Jeremy as
the other man leaves.
[Jeremy leaves.]
Sally MacKay pays for her beer once it arrives, then turns back towards the
room. Her eyes linger on her now-empty table, but she doesn't seem too eager
to return to it. She leans back against the bar and sips, her looking first
towards the door then slowly back to the back of the place.
Salem steadfastedly does not look at the blonde kinswoman by the bar. Though
it must surely take a great effort of will to avoid looking at her, he
manages the task.
Her eyes find him with ease (how could they not, with him being surrounded by
empty tables?). Unmoving, Sally just looks at him, the Jeremy-inspired
expression of calm happiness nowhere to be seen.
Salem brings the cigarette to his lips, inhales, and then tilts his head back
slightly, mouth opening to puff out a couple of mildly wobbly smoke rings.
He still resists looking toward her.
For just a little bit longer, Sally stands there and studies him, puzzling
over the Garou. Then she carries her beer back to her table and sets it
down, only to pick up her coat and start putting it on.
Salem lets his eyes shift toward Sally, briefly, as the young woman moves back
to her table.
Sally MacKay misses the glance on her way back, her thoughts turned inward.
Leaving her almost full mug on the table, she pulls on her fringed leather
gloves as she heads for the door.
Since Sally's back is turned, Salem watches her openly, smoke curling from his
cigarette and wreathing around his head. His face betrays him, showing a bit
of regret through the cracks of the carefully controlled mask.
One of her hands going behind her neck, Sally frees her hair from inside the
collar of her coat. While she's not walking slowly per se, there's no drive
to her step, no need to find the fun and find it /now/. She opens the door
and steps outside, out into the darkness, her mug of beer the only thing
left behind.
Sally MacKay pulls open the door and heads outside.
Sally MacKay has left.
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